Today, I paid homage to the first thanksgiving by visiting the statue of Massasoit on campus. Ironically, during the week we actually celebrate his role in saving early colonists, the statue is covered in cellophane for rivalry week between BYU and the University of Utah.
As leader of the Wampanoag tribe, he helped prevent the starvation of the Plymouth Colony during the earliest years of the settlement. As importantly, his diplomacy helped prevent war through the intervening years.
The usually stately sculpture is one several in the United States, with other statues in Plymouth, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, and two other sites in Massachusetts named for Massasoit.
The sculptor, Cyrus E. Dallin, was born and raised in Springville. He is most famous for his sculpture of the Angel Moroni statue that graces the top of the Salt Lake City Temple and copies of which are found on LDS Church temples throughout the world.
Even though it obscures the statue, I prefer cellophane to desecration by red paint. And that might just make it the perfect symbol of the week—commemorating that original thanksgiving day but also the big game on Saturday. Happy thanksgiving and go Cougars!
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